Junction and Magicite
by TNSLowell
Summary: The final battle with Ultimecia goes wrong and Squalls finds his world destroyed and himself spirited away to unfamiliar lands. Finding himself in the World of Ruin, Squall finds himself seeking answers and reluctantly beginning anew alongside a certain half-Esper. [FFVI and VIII Crossover. Eventual Squall/Terra]


" _Apocalypse."_

Squall knew that was the word. The word that spelled the end for all of them. The end for the world. The end for his friends. The end for his love. He could only watch, battered and exhausted, as Ultimecia's twisted form casted her final spell. They had fought long and hard, braved Ultimecia's castle, overcome many challenges. Only for all of it to shatter at the last moment. Zell, Selphie, Irvine, and Quistis. They had all fallen to the Sorceress's power. All of them having given their all to ensure that Rinoa and himself made to the end so that he, their leader, could press on to deal the final blow. And yet, he had failed in even that and now everything they had struggled for, everything they had sacrificed for will have been for naught. Squall grit his teeth as he slammed his left fist to the void like 'ground' by his feet. This was it. This was the end. They were going to die here. He could only helplessly try to look to Rinoa as he felt the shimmer of magic that surrounded them, Ultimecia's twisted energies taking form, ready to strike the last SeeDs down. Yet that was not what had caught Squall's attention as his eyes widened, Rinoa rose from the ground, angel wings adorning her back. Squall tried to run over to her, scream for her to stop, his left hand reaching out for her, but he found his body too exhausted to move..And his path impeded by Ultimecia's unholy energies. It was then that Rinoa, his sorceress, his angel, flashed one last smile towards him….

 _"Squall. I believe in you…Shell!"_

And soon a barrier of magic surrounded him. And only him as apocalypse finally struck blinding all that were present for a moment as Squall could do nothing but scream.

" _RINOA!"_

His words fell only on uncaring ears and minds as the dust settled and revealed nothing but Ultimecia and himself left on the battlefield. The only trace left of Rinoa was a single angel feather that fell to the void before it too disappeared. Squall grit his teeth and shut his eyes a brief feeling of grief that soon gave way to anger as he glared towards the enemy.

" _Time shall compress. And all shall become nothing. As it should be."_

Ultimecia's words echoed on deaf ears as Squall could on focus on the hatred that he felt for this enemy. The one that had taken everything from him..And with this emotion came a surge of power. The Guardian Forces of his friends and allies were transferred to him, he realized, before they had succumbed to time. And so, Squall looked to Ultimecia with a renewed determination and vengeance...If his world and everything he fought for was to be destroyed, so be it...But he will ensure that the enemy will -not- leave unscathed…And so Squall raised his gunblade high into the skies as he began channeling every ounce of his strength…

" _Do not resist against time. It is inevitable….Ultima..."_

The spell is cast, aimed directly towards Squall but before it could reach the scarred lion, every Guardian Force he and his companions had amassed appeared before him, forming a line in front of the mercenary as they all collectively formed a shield to protect their leader once more. Shiva, Quetzalcoatl, Ifrit, Siren, Cerberus, Leviathan, Carbuncle, and Alexander. All of them had appeared to protect Squall one last time before they faded into nothingness. as he charged his final attack, a pillar of energy forming around his blade as he poured all of his being, his anger, his hatred, his determination to destroy the enemy in front of him. It was now or never...It was time to end this.

" _Blasting Zone!"_

Squall screamed out as he swung his blade of light upon the twisted sorceress…There was only a foreboding silence as soon their world was engulfed in a blinding light and he felt his body give away, his life starting to fade. Squall did not know if his attack had succeeded..But it mattered little to him at this point. He had nothing to return to. Nothing to live for. He would die as he lived..Dedicated to the mission. And so...With his mission completed, he closed his eyes...And rested, letting darkness take him over.

For the first time in a long while...Squall had dreamed. He had heard much of the phenomenon of one's life flashing before their eyes before their deaths, for one who dealt with battle as much as he did, it was a fleeting feeling, to be finally be able to experience this release. However...The dream he had was not of his life. Nor did his entire life flash before his very eyes...Instead he saw visions of a grand sacrifice for the sake of one's beloved...A knight's devotion to the stars...A soldier burying a wilted flower upon a watery grave….And then finally an empty stare.

 _[What am I seeing? What is this? Am I..Dead? But this isn't...Ellone? No...It can't be her...Everything feels light...It won't matter anymore. As long as Ultimecia is dead….Rinoa…..]_

With those final thoughts, Squall's mind faded once again into the darkness.

...

" _Wahahahaha!"_

The same laughter had haunted her dreams for the past year, reminding her of that day. The day when the world had ended and they had lost. Their world of balance had turned into one of ruin, the very land and their people destroyed and ripped apart utterly by the _Lights of Judgment_ , with that same maniacal laughter echoing over and over in a twisted symphony….

" _No!"_

Terra Branford awoke from her nightmare, breathing heavily as she looked around her surroundings. She took a deep breath. She was not too loud this time as all the children around her were still sleeping soundly. It had been a few months since Kefka Palazzo had destroyed the world and became a god. Now everyone had lived in fear under his thumb, waiting for the inevitable day that Kefka would destroy them upon a chaotic whim as he always had...She had once been part of the Returners, a gathering of 'heroes' she supposed, one that rose up to stop the empire and Kefka for the sake of others. But all that didn't matter anymore, they had failed in the end and she did not want to try again. There were others right now that needed her help: the children of Mobliz that had lost their parents during one of Kefka's rampages. Terra nevertheless let out a deep sigh as he looked to the children still soundly sleeping...And thus, figuring that it would be yet another restless night, she carefully and quietly ventured from her hut to the nearby plains where she could see the sea that seemed almost blood red.

" _..."_

Terra stared silently to the sea as she then glanced to her hands, a myriad of thoughts dancing across her mind. She knew now. That she was not fully human. Within her flowed the blood of espers, the miraculous union between two opposing forces, and yet she had played a part in its very destruction and both esper and man had been driven to the brink under the hands of the mad god. Her eyes quivered as she clenched her hands into fists, biting the bottom of her lip as she shook her head.

' _What am I? Am I human? Can I Feel the things the children do? That Celes and Locke do? Just..What am I? Am I only here to fight?'_

She placed her right hand over her chest as she clutched at her trembling heart, her thoughts overwhelming her as she squeezed her eyes shut, attempting to will the pervasive thoughts away.

' _...You have to take care of them. The children. Duane and Katarin too...You have to focus...You have to…'_

 _[...Rinoa.]_

" _!"_

Terra lifted her head up as she suddenly heard an unfamiliar voice before the tell tale sound of a splash was picked up by her ears. She blinked a few times before looking down to the shores below to see a shadow, a body that was lying where the water had met the land. Shoving aside her conflicted emotions, she did not hesitate in making her way towards the figure and soon saw a man...One with brown hair and strange attire, a black jacket with a white 'mane' that seemed to clutch with his hands a strange weapon she had never seen before….

' _Did he fall from…-'_

Her thoughts were interrupted as the man coughed a few times before he seemed to shiver. The sound seemed to break Terra from her daze as she then frantically reached down for the man and attempted to drag him from the water.

' _He's cold. And. He's bleeding!'_

Terra stared blankly at her left hand that was stained red as it tried to grasp at the man's waist as her other hand had grasped behind his back as she tried to pull the man with her to land.

' _He needs help..He's going to..I need to do something!'_

The half-esper thought frantically as she clutched her arms around the man's chest tighter as she then began to drag him all the way back to Mobliz, caring little for the blood that stained her dress. If someone needed her help, she was going to provide it.

...

Pain. A paralyzing pain. That was the first thing Squall had felt since he had struck down Ultimecia...He could not see anything and he could not move easily, his entire body felt sore and exhausted along with the paralyzing pain that seemed to resonate throughout his body..

 _[Wait...Pain? I'm...Feeling pain? How? Aren't I supposed to be...Dead?]_

It had felt rather surreal, he seemed to breathe and struggle as he did despite having been killed. Despite being a dead man he still felt the need to breathe, and to keep his body still lest his wound be…

 _[Wound? What? I don't have to care about those things when I'm dead...Oh...Perhaps I'm in hell. Hmm..It would make sense that you feel an eternal burning pain..But..Yet...Why does this….]_

" _-ove….."_

He suddenly a heard an unfamiliar voice, one that seemed distant yet close as darkness still clouded his vision. He attempted to move his arms and legs once more before he felt the numbing pain once more. He seemed to gasp slightly then before he felt two hands upon his shoulders that seemed to nudge him back towards a soft...Bed?

 _[What's going on? What's-...]_

" _...Please don't move."_

A soft, quiet, and pointedly unfamiliar voice had whispered to him which then caused Squall to finally muster the strength to open his eyes.

" _Ah!"_

" _..."_

Cold blue eyes met a light violet gaze. A girl with green hair, one that seemed to be around their early twenties or perhaps their late teens was staring wide-eyed towards him. The first thing Squall felt at that moment was confusion as his mind registered the girl as someone completely unfamiliar, he seemed to lean back slightly, perhaps a natural instinct to having wakened in unfamiliar surroundings. The girl seemed to flinch but nevertheless stared curiously as he moved. Squall furrowed his brows as he felt pain reverberate throughout his body once more as he grit his teeth..And soon two hands seemed to squeeze at his shoulders before seeming to attempt to hold him in place so he did not move.

" _A-ah! Please! Don't move! Your wounds...They're going to open again if you move too much…"_

The girl stated with concern clear in her voice as her eyes frantically looked to his in a pleading manner. Squall then relaxed slightly at that as confusion seemed prevalent amongst his thoughts. He was sure that his last attack had gotten him killed..Yet he was lying here in this bed, staring towards an unfamiliar person with strange green hair and light violet eyes he had never seen before. Squall continued to stare to the person in silence, having never been one for words, which seemed to cause the girl to continue to look back to him curiously in turn, her eyes almost seeming to burn with an insatiable curiosity...As though it wanted to know his very thoughts. His very feelings. Much like how Ri-

" _Hrk…"_

" _Ah!"_

Squall let out a grunt of pain as he looked to the side before he then looked back to the girl, looking to him with a gaze that was a mixture of curiosity and concern. Squall had tried to speak but felt his throat dry as he instead coughed a few times. This seemed to distress the green haried girl enough that she retreated from the scarred mercenary and seemed to reach for a what seemed to be a mug of water that was prepared close to his bedside.

" _...Please try to rest. You're still hurt...I...You would have drowned if I hadn't found you by the shore…"_

She said with concern evident in her voice as she offered the man her mug which he took with slightly shaking hands as he then seemed to guzzle it down surprisingly quickly to relieve his parched throat. The girl then moved to sit upon a chair by the bed as she continued to look to him curiously.

" _...Thanks."_

Squall had managed to mutter out as he set the empty mug to his side, initially attempting to place it upon a nearby table but found his strength lacking. He grit his teeth for a moment as he closed his eyes and tried to focus through the pain. He took a deep breath before a voice seemed to interrupt any thoughts that could form.

" _You're welcome…"_

He heard the girl's voice. Uncertain yet seemingly grateful as his eyes then met a blank and uncertain gaze. The girl's stare had looked unfocused and distant at that moment as though she were briefly lost in her thoughts before she seemed to notice the his stare before looking back to him in turn, perhaps reflecting the curiosity in his eyes.

" _..."_

" _..."_

They both simply stared to each other in silence for a few moments, perhaps at a loss to how to proceed next. The girl seemed to still curiously into his eyes, almost like it was trying to bore into his very being, and discern everything that he was...Evidently he had an unpleasant expression upon his face judging by the girl's subsequent reaction as she seemed to shrink back from apologetically as she then tried to open her mouth, perhaps to vocalize her expressions..But before she could, Squall swiftly interrupted her with a question that had lingered since he had awoken..

" _...Who are you? Where am I?"_

The girl stared at him once again for a few moments as she then seemed to rest her hands upon her lap. She stared to her hands, her gaze lingering for a moment before she looked back to him, nodding once, perhaps trying to reassure him that he was not in enemy hands.

" _You're in Mobliz. I found you almost dead off the shores near here...And I'm…"_ She seemed to hesitate for a moment. _"I'm Terra. What's...What's your name?"_

 _[Mobliz?]_

Squall was confused. He had never heard of such a place before and he had extensively studied his world's geography in all those classes back in 'Garden.' He then seemed to finally have a good glance around the room he was currently resting in...It was a tattered old building, the walls and ceilings slightly cracked and haphazardly mended, the room only containing what seemed to be a small table, a chair and finally the bed he as resting in. He then slowly turned his gaze back to the girl..

 _[Terra? A curious name indeed...Hmm...Maybe I'm still dreaming...But I'm sure dreams aren't supposed to be ache this badly…]_

He thought before noting that the girl seemed to be looking to him expectantly. He blinked once, again confused and uncertain for a brief moment before he gave her a slow and careful nod, his cool blue eyes looking over to her.

" _Squall."_

His response was quick and to the point. Despite his injuries and the hospitality that was shown..He could not afford to let his guard down. Even if this may be a simple dream. It was certainly possible..That all this was a trick. An illusion...A cruel dream by the witch that-

" _Squall…."_

His thoughts were interrupted by the girl's soft voice whom seemed to mumble his name quietly multiple times before she seemed to then look over to him with a barely noticeable smile that seemed sincere nonetheless.

" _...It's nice to meet you, Squall."_

She stated quietly as she placed one hand gingerly over the other on her lap. She stared at him with a mix of concern and relief, despite the cautious gaze that he was no doubt sending her in turn. Squall looked away fro a moment, closing his eyes before he let out a deep breath and stared back to her, both of them looking to one another in silence. A single prevailing thought echoed within Squall's mind.

 _[...Whatever.]_

 **((AN: Hello everyone! Been a lurker in this site for quite some time now and just finally mustered the courage to publish a story of my own. Final fantasy 6 and 8 were my favorites growing up as a child and thus to celebrate the release of the new Dissidia, I wanted to write a piece dedicated to my two favorite characters. I accept all forms of constructive criticism and I hope you enjoy it!))**


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